People should feel happy and proud on the day of their high school graduation. Being with loved ones at this time makes the celebration even more meaningful. In today’s story, however, a dad’s refusal to go has ruined what was supposed to be a happy event. Not having him around felt like a deep betrayal.

He wrote about what happened on the web.
18 years old, I’m leaving high school at the end of the month. My dad told me the other night that his stepdaughter (14f) is having an award ceremony in another state on that same day for a competition she entered and won, and she really wants him to be there. He told me that he couldn’t go to both, but he needs to be there too because his wife and kids will be going. He said he would repay me and we could enjoy ourselves again another time.

I still live with him, but not for much longer. Before I turned 7, my mom died. When I was 11 or 12, my dad got married again. Anyway, it’s been a while. My dad has taken her in as his own even though she has never met her real dad. And in the last five or six years, he has put her first a lot.

There are times when it’s not easy to see, but you can feel it. Father-son time was put on hold indefinitely. Instead, dad told me we needed to include her in our time together, and he also had time with her alone as father-daughter time. It was something I brought up with my dad, and he told me I wasn’t really trying to get closer to her. He wanted us all to get closer, not just my relationship with him.

He has gone to her dance events instead of my basketball games when they were going on at the same time. He will still skip my stuff to go to hers, even if hers was known about before mine. He takes us on family trips, but when he and his wife say, “Kids can choose,” he never lets me pick. Afterward, he says it again: anything his little princess wants. He says it’s because they will be the most fun for everyone.

Both our fridge and shower broke at the same time. Since his stepdaughter’s birthday was coming up, he took $250 from my birthday fund to pay for the things she wanted, like this Barbie house and a whole fashion set. He didn’t get all the money back by my birthday, so instead of getting me a new monitor and keyboard for my computer (a gift from my grandparents), he bought me a $30 gift card.

My dad told me he couldn’t make it to my graduation because he had to go support her. I told him he could forget about being a part of my life afterwards. He said he would make it up to me, but I told him I wouldn’t accept always being second to his little princess. I told him that was the last time he would dump me. Dad begged me to calm down, but I just left.

Then I asked both sets of grandparents to come, and they said yes. I could have gone with them, and his wife told me I didn’t have to go to the ceremony but could help “my sister.” I told her that her daughter is not my sister and that I no longer wanted to help their family. I also told them that I would be leaving soon. She said I was selfish and that I couldn’t keep her daughter from having a dad.

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